Brazil

• Wednesday, August 2nd 2017 - 07:12 UTC

  To save or not to save Temer, Brazilian lawmakers' challenge in an televised live vote on a bribery charge

  

  August has been a devastating month for Brazilian presidents, 31 days in which they have been impeached or resigned. One even committed suicide, Getulio Vargas in 1954, and for Michel Temer's own predecessor, ex president Dilma Rousseff, it was her demise when she was removed last Aug. 31 for breaking fiscal rules in her management of the budget.

• Tuesday, August 1st 2017 - 06:36 UTC

  Hammond in Brazil announced the doubling of support for bilateral trade

  

  The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has unveiled a series of new commercial agreements with Brazil on Monday, on day one of his visit to showcase British business and deepen trade and economic ties with South America’s biggest economies. Among the measures has been doubling support to £3 billion, to promote bilateral trade.

• Monday, July 31st 2017 - 08:10 UTC

  Decisive vote in Brazilian lower house for president Temer's future in office

  

  The Brazilian Congress will return from recess this week and could bring back political uncertainty fears to local markets, as lawmakers are set to decide on Wednesday if the Supreme Court should trial President Michel Temer for corruption. Temer was formally charged with passive corruption by the prosecutor-general Rodrigo Janot at the end of last month.

• Saturday, July 29th 2017 - 23:29 UTC

  Brazilian budget remains at record breaking deficit

  

  Brazil posted another large budget deficit in June, the biggest on record for the month, highlighting the government's uphill battle to meet its budget target amid a slow economic recovery. The monthly primary deficit, before interest rate payments, narrowed in June to 19.552 billion reais (US$6.21 billion) from 30.7 billion in May.

• Friday, July 28th 2017 - 12:06 UTC

  Ex Petrobras and Banco do Brasil CEO, named by Rousseff, arrested on suspicion of bribes

  

  Brazilian federal police on Thursday arrested a former head of Petrobras and the Banco do Brasil, marking a new chapter of the sweeping graft probe into the state-owned oil company. Three people were detained in the operation, the prosecutor's office said in a statement, as part of the “Car Wash” investigation that has uncovered systemic corruption and ensnared many of Brazil's political and business elites.

• Thursday, July 27th 2017 - 14:54 UTC

  Brazil central bank lowers basic rate to 9.25%; expected to reach 8% by end of 2017

  

  Brazil's central bank cut interest rates below 10% for the first time in nearly four years on Wednesday, keeping a fast pace of monetary easing as plunging inflation gave it leeway to aid an incipient recovery.The bank's nine-member monetary policy committee, known as Copom, cut its benchmark Selic rate by 100 basis points for the third straight time to 9.25%.

• Thursday, July 27th 2017 - 02:16 UTC

  Prosecution triple budget to combat corruption in Brazil

  

  Brazil’s Attorney General’s office announced on Tuesday that it has tripled its 2018 budget for the investigation into a sprawling corruption scandal that has engulfed political and business leaders across Latin America.

• Thursday, July 27th 2017 - 01:52 UTC

  Brazilian landless peasants invade soybean plantation owned by Agriculture minister

  

  Hundreds of landless farmers in Brazil have invaded and occupied a soybean plantation owned by a company belonging to Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi. The takeover by some 500 people was organized by the Landless Rural Workers' Movement, which encourages the seizure of farmland it deems unproductive as a tactic to pressure the government.

• Monday, July 24th 2017 - 08:50 UTC

  Brazil cuts spending and raises taxes, including on fuel, to try and balance the budget

  

  Brazil's government increased a spending freeze and raised taxes to cover a budget gap this year, reinforcing its commitment to fiscal discipline but dealing a potential blow to fragile economic growth. In a statement by the Finance and Planning Ministries, the government said it will freeze an additional 5.9 billion Reais (US$1.9 billion) in federal spending this year

• Saturday, July 22nd 2017 - 12:10 UTC

  International legal cooperation has been essential in combating corruption admits Brazilian Prosecutor General

  

  Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s conviction on corruption charges is not a political statement, but an enforcement of the law demonstrative of Brazil’s commitment to combat corruption at the highest levels of society, Brazilian Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot said at the Atlantic Council this week.